


Let Me Shield You From the Storm

by jutsuzuban, Timeskipped



Series: MasuKyu Magic AU [3]
Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Minor Furuichi Sakyou/Tachibana Izumi, Offscreen Violence, Survivor Guilt, Werewolves, izumi and omi are siblings in this AU, nachi isn't here but he's mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 00:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30063831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jutsuzuban/pseuds/jutsuzuban, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timeskipped/pseuds/Timeskipped
Summary: Izumi opens her door to find Omi, blood on his face and a small werewolf in his arms.
Relationships: Fushimi Omi & Tachibana Izumi
Series: MasuKyu Magic AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157567
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Let Me Shield You From the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Percy Timeskipped here, back with more of this Magic AU. No prior knowledge of the AU is needed to read this!

Izumi gets a knock on her door at night, when the waning crescent moon is high in the sky and she’s just gotten done making curry for her and Sakyo to eat. There are other people who come to stay with her occasionally, but tonight it’s only her and her husband.

Even if some of those who stay are just there temporarily, she’ll make sure to make it welcoming and safe. That’s why she answers the door quickly. Anyone is free to come.

When you’re a werewolf, you get pack instincts ingrained into your body and upbringing. Family, blood or not, becomes more important to you than your own life. Izumi wants to spread that, though it’s mostly other werewolves who come to stay with them.

Her brother’s pack, _Omi’s_ pack, is _close_ , after all, and she knows several other packs in the area, even though she’s not personally in one.

When she opens the door to find Omi there, she’s not surprised. What she _is_ surprised about is how beat up he looks. His eyes are dull, with scratches on his face and arms and a large bandage on his jaw, and there’s a _wolf_ in his arms. A small one, with large, frightened eyes and pink-tinted fur. The wolf’s teeth are bared as soon as the door opens.

“Omi?” Izumi says, and the night air feels suffocating.

Omi smiles, but this, too, looks more like baring his teeth. Omi always comes home with other werewolves in his pack, but this is different. There’s a spot of blood beneath his eye that looks clumsily wiped away. Izumi’s heart feels crushed, aching in her chest.

“Where are the others?” She asks. Nachi isn’t here. Nobody else is here, and she can’t understand it at all. “Are you okay?” She reaches out, questions continuing to spill out of her mouth, unending. Concern colors her every word. She feels too cold and too hot at the same time, like her body can’t decide what feeling her panic will bring her. “Where’s Nachi? Who’s this?”

The pink wolf growls at her. It makes her keep her hands away from Omi, even though she desperately wants to pull him closer to check his injuries.

“...Nachi’s dead.” He says, shaking his head. He’s not smiling, anymore.

Izumi stays still as he brushes past her, still holding the small wolf close to his chest. She doesn't know what to say. She doesn't know why she can smell blood on Omi, when she shouldn't even have heightened senses in human form. She can’t comprehend it. Why is he hurt? What happened?

“Can we use my room?” Omi asks, barely a murmur. “He’s probably going to be in wolf form for a while, so…”

Omi’s room isn’t really _his_. He’s never called it _my room_ before. It’s just the one he used to stay in, the one he hangs out with Nachi in when Nachi comes— _came_ over. _Past tense,_ Izumi reminds herself, heart dropping into her stomach. Nachi is dead. Nachi is _dead_.

It doesn’t feel real.

“Uh,” Izumi stumbles over her words, feeling her eyes burning. “You—Yeah. Go ahead. But first—” Omi turns around, looking old and tired, even though he’s supposed to be her _little_ brother. “—what’s his name,” she ends lamely, gesturing at the pink wolf.

Omi smiles. It’s painfully fake. “Sakuya,” he says, and turns again to leave.

* * *

Werewolves can’t change back to their human form when they’re experiencing an overflow of emotion. That’s how she knows Sakuya is hurting from whatever happened in a way greater than what she can see with her eyes.

Omi is the one to bring Sakuya food. Omi is also the one to make it, seemingly always either in the kitchen or in his room. Izumi finds a list of foods wolves are sensitive to and prints it out for him. Omi makes meals with everything not on the list, cautious about making something bad for Sakuya’s stomach and even more cautious of using too many of Izumi’s spices.

The only time he seems to be away from the kitchen is when he’s with Sakuya, or when he’s spending time changing his bandages—on the first morning, he asked Izumi where she kept her first aid kit. He hasn’t mentioned the injuries or what happened any more than that.

It’s become normal for her to come home to hear Omi cooking, but he doesn’t even welcome her home like he used to.

She knows he isn’t okay. But she doesn’t know what to do.

“Omi,” she says, holding a hand to his arm. His eyes are brighter now, but she thinks it’s because he’s distracting himself. “Are you okay? You should take a break. Come shopping with me, and we can… talk. Or something.”

Omi shakes his head. “I don’t want to leave Sakuya alone.”

The ache is back in Izumi’s chest. “He won’t be, though. Sakyo’s home, you know that, right? Sakuya might not know him very well, but Sakyo is safe.” She resists the urge to ask if Omi doesn’t trust Sakyo—that would be too cruel to say to someone so hurt, and even though she trusts Sakyo with her life, Omi might not. “If you need us to, we can introduce ourselves to Sakuya, just, anything—”

Omi sighs, hanging his head. “Okay. Okay, Izu-nee.” The nickname sounds so lifeless right then, but he looks at her and smiles, so she hopes it’s a little bit more _okay_ than he has been lately. “I want to help you. So if you want me to take a break, I will. For you.”

“That’s good,” she says softly, because it’s the kind of thing he’d say when they were kids; when Omi hadn’t shot past her height and started hanging out with a pack she wasn’t involved with.

Omi’s smile is still tired.

Sakuya has stayed in Omi’s room a lot of the time, and whenever he doesn’t, he sticks by Omi’s side like a second shadow, sitting on the floor of the kitchen. He doesn’t seem scared of Izumi after the first couple days, but Izumi suspects that’s because Izumi, despite probably smelling strongly of werewolf, is Omi’s sister before anything else.

So when Omi brings the wolf boy in to properly meet Izumi and, more importantly, Sakyo, Sakuya isn’t growling or anything. In fact he seems calm. Too calm, like he’s pushing down the storm swirling inside of him.

Sakyo moves carefully, patting Sakuya’s head the same way he does when Izumi gets sad as a wolf. She can’t help but think it’s sweet of him to do so.

Izumi scoots closer. “I know I haven’t talked to you much, Sakuya. I hope that we can get along, though!” She reaches out, even though Sakyo is between her and him. He nudges her gently with his face. _Of course he wants to get along._

Things become slightly more comfortable from there, with Sakuya slowly inching onto Sakyo’s lap.

Sakuya rests his head on her leg more fully, and Izumi lets out her breath. This is normal. This is just a wolf (a wolf puppy? Why is Sakuya so small?) bonding with an older pack member. Traumatized though he may be, Sakuya is young. Izumi desperately doesn’t want to hurt him.

He seems so _good_ , too. His silence at all times, the whines he lets out, the glances towards Omi—like he doesn’t want to be apart from him, but also like he’s asking for permission to be there at all—it breaks Izumi’s heart.

“Tomorrow,” Izumi says to Omi. “We’ll go to the store tomorrow. You need that break as soon as possible.”

To her surprise, Sakuya nods in agreement against her leg.

* * *

Izumi restocks a lot of things, but she’s disappointed to find that she has no need to spend the next hour at the spices section and plan out curries for them.

She glances at Omi, mulling over some… are those eggplants? “Hey,” she says, coming up behind him. He starts, looking away from the eggplants to turn towards her fully. “You could’ve used more of my spices, you know. A lot of them are okay for wolf consumption if you’re careful.”

Omi shakes his head. “I was already intruding too much.” He falls silent for a moment, pressing his lips together. “And I don’t know if I had it in me to be _careful_ , after what happened.”

Izumi pauses at this. Should she ask? No, she shouldn’t. This isn’t the right time.

“But you really should’ve seasoned a bit more,” she says. “Not that it was bland—it was great as always—but I can handle the spice! And I know you can too.” She reaches over, grabs an eggplant at random, checks the price, and puts it into the basket. “You’ve had enough of my curry to know your limits.”

Omi sighs. “Yeah, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I just needed to… move. To do _anything_.”

Izumi is going to take it as a good sign that he’s actually talking about things, now. The knot of worry about not knowing what happened is loosening just a bit.

“...Alright,” she says, softly. “I want you to know that you don’t _have_ to do anything. It would be okay with me, and probably better for yourself, honestly, if you let yourself relax. If you know any of Sakuya’s food preferences, I can make him something. Does he like curry?”

Omi’s lip turns minutely upwards. “I wouldn’t know about curry.”

“I’ll just go with something simple, then!” Izumi lets out a breath, thinking of all the different food that werewolves can eat in wolf form. What would make a good curry, and keep Omi from insisting to help her, anyways? She takes a glance at Omi, who’s still staring down some of the vegetables in the aisle.

She remembers when he’d go shopping for Nachi and the others, bringing home tons of ingredients. The pack was so close to each other that Izumi can’t imagine a time when Omi wasn’t at least talking about Nachi.

Izumi knows that she has to help Omi, somehow. But she’s no therapist, and she’s not sure she can help beyond _getting_ them one.

Maybe she can just make some curry and talk to them about it. Omi seems okay with her making the curry, so it should be fine, right? And besides, she can make something special for Sakuya. Werewolves have different dietary needs depending on if they’re in wolf or human form, anyways, so maybe she can make the main thing that Werewolves absolutely shouldn’t have in human form, even though it’s okay in wolf form: red meat.

She puts her hand on Omi’s arm. “I’ll make some red meat curry. It’ll be special!” She grins wider. “Sakyo will get mad that we’ll be wolves at the dinner table, but who cares about his opinion?”

Omi lets out a breath from his nose. “You do, I presume, since you’re married to him.”

Well, Izumi can’t deny that. “Regardless!” she exclaims. “It’ll be fun! We can eat as a family, okay? Sakuya can _join_ our family if he wants. I just need to ask him eventually.”

Omi nods. “Okay. Red meat it is. And…” He turns to go to the meat aisle, but looks back at her with shining eyes. He smiles, and for once it doesn’t look forced or anything. “...I’m glad to be able to eat with you again. Thanks.”

Oh, now Izumi feels like she’s going to cry. But she wills her tears away and follows Omi.

* * *

The two of them walk home carrying tons of groceries. It’s a nice day, the kind of day she’d usually like to spend sitting in the sun if other things weren’t more important; alas, life keeps moving, and right now it’s moved them right to the entrance of a park they used to play in when they were kids.

Izumi stops, sneakers scraping against the gravel. Omi stops next, tilting his head curiously.

“Let’s go in,” she says. He stares at her, and part of her is saying she should feel guilty for derailing it when he probably wants to go home to Sakuya, but she needs him to be happy. She _needs_ it. Even if the reminder of their past is just a momentary distraction. “Please.”

Omi doesn’t respond for a moment. His eyes drop to the bags in his hands. “Okay.”

Izumi’s lip curls upwards. “You know, if you’d said no,” she says, leading the way, “I might’ve picked you up and carried you in. You’re a lot taller than me now, but I bet I could still do it.”

“Haha…”

That’s not a happy laugh. It’s exhausted more than anything, and Izumi finds herself grateful that the park is empty. She leads him to a bench, where she relieves herself of the weight of her bags (not that they were _that_ bad; really, werewolf strength is a blessing) and sits down, gesturing for Omi to sit beside her.

He doesn’t, simply shaking his head, but he puts his bags down next to her’s. “We haven’t been here in a long time,” he says, looking up at the sky.

Izumi shrugs, smiling. “I’ve been here a few times. You were always off having fun—which I’m happy about, but it’s good to be back here with you, you know?” She looks up, too, feeling like maybe she should close her eyes and soak it up more, but then she glances at Omi again.

He’s cringing, frowning deeply, eyebrows pressed together.

“It won’t be fun anymore,” Omi murmurs, barely loud enough for Izumi to hear over the light breeze rustling through the trees. “I’ll never…”

Izumi stands. She wonders if she’s allowed to step closer. “Omi,” she says, gently. Omi looks at her with wide eyes, like he’s begging her to do _something_. So she does. “If you can… Can you tell me what happened?”

Omi nods, first. Then he pauses, licks his lips. He starts slowly. “I watched them die. Both mine and Sakuya’s packs. We were staying together, temporarily. But the attacking pack was following Nachi and I,” he pauses here, face contorting.

Izumi knew it would be bad. But the details feel like they’re going to reach up and strangle her. “That… That’s awful.” She can’t imagine the kind of things he saw.

He looks away from her.

“I… killed someone,” he says, and his hands find their way to his face, rubbing over his eyes. “Multiple people. I found my pack’s bodies and then I couldn’t _stop_ —the only reason I’m not a wolf right now is because I keep forcing myself to control myself—pretending it never _happened_. But I killed them. They all deserved worse but—” his voice hitches, “—but I don’t think—” he’s sobbing now, shoulders shaking.

Izumi’s heart has dropped to her stomach. How are you supposed to feel when someone you love confesses to murder? Is it supposed to be fear, anger? All Izumi feels is a sickening mix of shock and sadness, though, trapped inside her. Her hands are shaking.

She’s not mad at Omi. Her anger instead has a different target. “Omi—” she starts, shakily.

“I should’ve been the one to die,” Omi’s voice is shattered, his words coming out strangled. “Nachi—God, _Nachi_ —”

Omi shakes with his full body when Izumi wraps her arms around him. If those monsters killed her brother’s pack, if they killed Sakuya’s pack—good, kind Sakuya, who can’t even bring himself to do anything but follow the only one he knows—then they don’t deserve any kindness or _what if_ thoughts. “I’m sorry that happened,” she says. “But you need to care about yourself. You can’t die. _You didn’t deserve that._ And neither did Nachi and the others.”

Omi buries his face in the crook of her neck. His back is hunched for it due to their height difference, and Izumi finds herself rubbing his back like this is just a small thing, not a life-shattering problem. His tears stain her shirt.

“I don’t want you to die,” she says, voice almost whining like a lost dog’s, and feels her heart beating an irregular rhythm. She’s not qualified for this, no matter how she looks at it, but she has to try to help. “ _Never_ say you should’ve been the one to die. You _both_ should’ve lived. That’s _it_. Those—Those _fuckers_ didn’t—” she growls, tries to stop herself. She’s not supposed to be angry at the killers right now, she’s supposed to be helping Omi, but she can’t help it when her pack instincts are telling her to protect her family. “You did it in self defense,” she finishes with a shaking breath.

“Did I?” his voice is muffled against her shoulder. “I—I don’t know if I can do this, Izumi. I want to protect Sakuya, but he’s so hurt and I don’t know how to _help_.”

“You can’t protect him from everything,” Izumi rubs Omi’s back again and again. “You can’t shoulder everything alone. It’s a bad habit of yours, I know, but… I’ll get you two therapy. I’m sure Sakyo will agree that it’s necessary. And before that, I’ll protect you.” She tightens her hold on him. “Please, Omi.”

Omi doesn’t respond, but his breath hitches into a sob again. He’s not shaking anymore.

“You shouldn’t have gone through that. You _shouldn’t_ have.”

“I know. I know, Izu-nee.” His voice is quiet, like he’s worried they might be heard, alone with his trauma in this empty park they used to love. “I know I need help. But it just seems so impossible.” Izumi is about to interject, but Omi keeps going. “I’ll let you, though.” He pulls back, eyes red and teary. “Please protect me. _Please_.”

Izumi doesn’t know how she’s held back the tears until now, but the floodgates open then, and suddenly she’s holding onto Omi even tighter, crushing him into a hug. Her laugh is strangled. “ _Good_. I will. And thank you for saying it.” She smiles the lightest smile possible, even though tears are still dripping from her eyes into Omi’s shirt, like a reversal of where they just were. “Good. Good boy. Just let your Izu-nee protect you right now.”

Omi puts his hand on her head, gently. “Thank you.”

They stay there for a long moment. Even when Izumi becomes aware that they should go home, she finds herself feeling stuck, just happy that Omi actually opened up to her. But time moves on; she has to talk to Sakyo about budgeting therapy sessions, and the frozen groceries are going to melt if they're out much longer.

“Let’s go home to Sakuya and Sakyo,” she says, when she lets go. Omi nods, and wipes tears off his face. His problems are heavy—too heavy for him to handle alone—but she’ll try her best to shield him and Sakuya from the storm.

* * *

“We’re home!”

“We’re back.” Omi’s face is still red, and Izumi gives him a concerned glance. He’s obviously still not okay. It’s to be expected; opening up to her doesn’t mean healing forever.

“Hey,” she catches Omi’s attention and lifts the bags in her hands. “Can you take these to the kitchen?” He nods, and she loads them onto his arms, the weight just making him shift the bags he already had. “Great, I’m going to talk to Sakyo, then.”

She rushes off, and finds Sakyo in their room, Sakuya sprawled out on his lap.

She pauses at the door and smiles. Sakyo looks up from the book he’s reading, and Izumi walks closer, watching Sakuya’s chest rise and fall. He seems to be asleep.

“Hey,” she says softly, kissing Sakyo on the cheek. He mutters back his own greeting as he kisses her back. “Do you think we can work therapy into the budget? For Omi and Sakuya,” she rests her hand gently by Sakuya’s side, almost holding his paw. “They seem like they need it. They’ve been through… a lot.” The remnants of Omi’s words still linger in her mind.

Sakyo nods. “...I know. I’ll figure something out.”

**Author's Note:**

> More chapters might eventually be added going more into other aspects of Omi and Sakuya’s backstory and healing from it! Thank you for reading!!!


End file.
